The Amish Cook: Dandelion omelet a good way to start a day

Wednesday

May 7, 2014 at 12:41 AMMay 7, 2014 at 12:41 AM

3:15 a.m. Time to start the day! I pack my husband Joe’s lunch while he gets ready for work. I pack a container of leftover breakfast casserole for him to eat at his 8:30 a.m. break. He isn’t hungry for breakfast this early in the morning. Then for his lunch I pack some fried chicken, cherry pie and peaches.

4 a.m. Joe’s driver comes to pick him up. I go back to bed until the girls get up to leave for work.

5 a.m. The girls are waiting on their ride to work. They have their lunches packed.

5:20 a.m. Elizabeth, 19, and Susan, 18, leave for their jobs at the RV factory.

6:15 a.m. I wake the children up to get ready for school. Joseph will stay home as he isn’t feeling too well.

7 a.m. Bus is here! Verena and I get the house in order and start to make breakfast. My sisters Verena, Susan, Emma and her two daughters plan to come help us today, so I told them to come for breakfast.

8 a.m. Everyone is here and we are ready to eat. On the menu is fried eggs, potatoes, side pork, cheese, hot peppers, chocolate swirl bars, coffee and juice. Just as we were ready to sit down to eat, a friend stopped in to tell us one of our calves is out. She helped us all round up the calf and we chase him into the barn. It’s the same one that escaped last fall when we got them, only he’s 500 pounds bigger now! I see that the battery on the fence charger is dead and that’s how he got through. I change the battery. Breakfast was delayed but we were glad the calf didn’t give us problems.

9 a.m. Dishes are being washed and clothes gathered to be washed. After a dreary looking morning it looks like it is turning out to be a nice day. Everyone finds a job to do, either helping with laundry or cleaning the basement. The basement needs a good cleaning after having the coal stove going down there all winter.

1:30 p.m. A huge laundry hangs on the lines with a lot having been brought in to make room for more. The laundry spinner sure helps dry the clothes so much faster. Joe’s sister Mary Ann and her friend Gloria stop by for a short visit.

1:45 p.m. Lunch is finally ready. We have potato soup and leftover fried chicken from last night. I make some fresh lemonade, which is always a good thirst quencher. I like to eat the lemons in the lemonade.

3:30 p.m. The children arrive home from school and my husband Joe soon after that.

3:45 p.m. Daughters Elizabeth and Susan are home from the factory. My sisters are getting ready to leave. All the clothes have been brought in and folded. Most of the basement has been cleaned. So much was accomplished today!

4 p.m. I leave with Benjamin and Kevin to go get their cleanings at the dentist. I reschedule for Joseph as he doesn’t feel good enough to go.

5:50 p.m. We are back and the girls have potatoes cooking for supper, bacon fried and dandelions washed for me to make a dandelion salad. It is so nice when I can leave and the girls take over with the work.

7 p.m. We eat supper and everyone seems ready to call it a day. Joe and Benjamin were working on digging a trench to bury some tile. We are trying to get the water to drain away from the house better when it pours rain really hard.

9 p.m. Everyone is cleaned up and ready for bed. God has blessed us once again. Let us thank Him daily. Our thoughts go back 19 years ago today when Joe’s mother passed away at the young age of 54. Elizabeth was our only child at that time and wasn’t even a year old. It’s sad that the children won’t ever have memories of her but God has a reason for everything.

I’ll share the recipe for a dandelion omelet that niece Elizabeth Wengerd shared in the family cookbook. Elizabeth will have her 21st birthday already on May 17. The years sure go by way too fast.

Dandelion omelet

1/4 cup dandelion buds

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

4 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon water

Cheese

2 tablespoons butter

In a skillet, sauté 1/4 cup dandelion buds and 1/4 cup chopped red pepper in 1 tablespoon butter for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove and set aside. In the same skillet, melt another tablespoon of butter. Beat 4 eggs with a teaspoon of water and pour into skillet. As eggs set, lift the edges and let the uncooked portion flow underneath. When eggs are set, sprinkle with cheese and spoon the dandelion mixture over half of the eggs. Fold in half and enjoy!